Huntsville gazette., 1887-10-15
THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR.
SOME MEMBERS IN TROUBLE FOR
CIRCULATING FALSE REPORTS.

A Hot Debate About the Bsyoot Of Q
Papel-No Bureau Of Strikes and Boy
colts to be EstaSiashsd- AboIision ksf
| the. Assistance Fund Recon- IN ended.
| MINNEAPoLIs, Mimi, Oct la-The gem
eral assembly OF the Knights Of Labor gave
the lie yesterday to the puoiic asseveratioa
Of more than one Of its members that it pro-
posed to adopt a policy of conciliation and
good will toward the independent trades
unionG Not only this. but it placed itself
in posiG.on toward alarge and powerful
organization that is likely to create as much
mischief as the now famous fsui with the
clgarmakers
| Among the resolutions which were handed
! in the other day, and referred without de-
bate, was one from District Assembly "a, Of
New York city. the membership Of which
is composed Of printers and other employees
Of newspaper offices, asking that boycott,
which had been instituted some tims ago It
. c inference Of some thirteen or fourteen
district assemblies of that state against q
prominent morning newspaper Of New York
city. be declared null an void An unfav-
| OidOic ToPOfb uivOA PAOPOSiVAOa Wa
made by the COMMITTEES on boycott. and the
debate that followed was hot aud excited.
Murray, of No 81. lei the fzht against
the report OF the CO n nitSse. Hs said that
every printer in the n ,loy Of the paper in
question was a msmos. of ths Typogra phical
union and received union wages, and that
the adm ttel reason for the institution of
i the boycott was that the Dapsr ha ass~ ned
an attitude OF hostility towards the labor
| interests in its editorial colu nnI This, he
| said. was a matter with which the organisa-
| ton had nothing to do. II it thought that
it could muzzs the editorial columns Of the
| press OF the country it had better abandon
the idea right away Tne Knights Of Labor
| had been brought into existence to control,
| not the ex ,ression of public opinion, but
labor and wages, and it had no more to do,
/ officially, with whatever editor al ssnsi-
ments were found in the papers OF the land
| than it had with the crown of the queen Of
England.
Ii there was anythin. the matter with the
paper in question, the union OF which it,
employees were members was perfectly caps
bic Of graphing with it. but for the generaA
assembly to justify q boy cott upon . payer,
which recognized . trades org cation
through its business offcs and it, scale Of
wages, simply because 1t would not sacrifice
| the independence OF its editorial columns
would be to take step which could not be
viewed otherwlse than with alarm 1t was
| a matter with whion the order had nothing
to do, and amounted to q virtual declara-
tion OF war upon the Typographical union
Special delegates spoke in the same strain,
while Deega 9 Quinn. of D strict Assembly
~. of New YORK; Secretary Litchman, and
]. B. Mcclure, led the fight On the opposite
side. They contended that the knights had
done more for the printers than tho latter
i had ever ions for sas kni ghts; hat anyhow
! the two organic atoms had no ties to bind
| them, and that there was nothing to prevent
the boycotting weapon bein legitimately
used against any paper Will was notori-
ously unfriendiy in It's columns towards the
interests OF labor. There was considerable
applause, counter applause and interruption
during the debate, but when came to . vote
! ths report Of the COMMITTEES recommending
the taoling Of the resolution TO abandon the
boycott was adopted by An overwhelming
maiority The minority il feeling very sore
and declares that the temper Of the assembly
| 10 in favor war upon the Independents unions
% long a. one Of them il left
| A good deal Of other important business
4 was br0UD6Ct0l ~ on0 oOSSAoAs 49, oS'~sAOAJ
ut down upon . proposition 10 establish
bureau Of strikes and boycotts, although 9
number OF speeches were made In its favor.
The committee on legislation recommended
the abolition OF the assistance fuai on the
ground that it tended toward encouraging
strikes This was referred 20 the spscia
committee on constitution Ths assistance
fund il created by an assessment OF five
| aants psr month from sach member OF the
order and IL expended under the direction OF
the general executive board. Last year tho
disbursements from this source rsached
naarlv 4 Quarter Of . million dollars, and
large pumper OF delegates representing
almost every atats from Maine to California
| presented charges against various firms
which In their opinion justified the institu-
ton Of . boycott but every case was
referred TO the general executive board.
Just a. the assembly was about to adjourn
the co,umttes on strikes and boycotts came
in with report indorsing the action Of the
general executive board in bringing ths
stockyards strike to full stop Tom Barry
and some of the Chicago delegates intima-
| ted. however that they wanted to say some
thing on the question. aud it was allowed to
| 70 over till to-day. 1t was labor day
Yesterday at the exposition, and in tho after
noon and evening Messra Barry. Powderly,
Grifiirhs and Bailey, and other members OF
the assembly delivered addresses TO she visi-
torA
| Pleasant Incident 1t Richmond.
| RICHMOND, Va, Oct 13-Last night the
hall of Rooert E. Lee Camp Of Confederate
Veterans was the scene Of . most touching
and pleasant episode. A delegation from
John A. Andrews Post, Of Boston, headed
by Commander W. B. Daily. was in attend
ancs, and presented each Of the ten offlc ers
Of the Lee Camp with : Handsomely chased
sword bearing the inscription, From John
A. Anirew Post, g. A. r., to Robert E
Les Camp. Confederate Veterans" Com
mandsr Daily made the presentation speech,